1. Isolation v. Globalization in World War I
Section 2:
Isolation v. Globalization in World War I
SSUSH15a-c, SSUSH16a

2. SSUSH15 The student will analyze the origins and impact of U. S
SSUSH15 The student will analyze the origins and impact of U.S. involvement in World War I.
a. Describe the movement from U.S. neutrality to engagement in World War I, with reference to unrestricted submarine warfare.
b. Explain the domestic impact of World War I, as reflected by the origins of the Great Migration, the Espionage Act, and socialist Eugene Debs.
c. Explain Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the proposed League of Nations.
SSUSH16 The student will identify key developments in the aftermath of WW I.
a. Explain how rising communism and socialism in the United States led to the Red Scare and immigrant restriction.

3. Origins of World War I Causes Early war in Europe Balkan nationalism
Militarism
Entangling alliances
Early war in Europe
Assassination of Archduke (June 28, 1914)
Mobilization
Invasion of France, development of trench lines

4. Origins of World War I U.S. Neutrality
Wilson’s Declaration of Neutrality
August 19, 1914
The effect of the war upon the United States will depend upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness and friendliness to all concerned…
…The United States must be neutral in fact, as well as in name, during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be impartial in thought, as well as action…

5. World War I Submarine warfare
February 5th, 1915 – Germany announces submarine blockade of Britain
Why?
May 7th, 1915 – Lusitania sunk
1,198 civilians, includes 128 Americans killed
Takes 18 minutes to sink
German warning to American passengers

6. The Lusitania British ocean liner U.S. Response:
Carried articles of war (up to 1/2 of cargo)
1,250 cases of shrapnel shells; 18 cases of fuses; 4,200 cases of Remington rifle cartridges (1,000 to a box); 50 cases of explosive powder
U.S. Response:
Wilson issues demand to stop sub attacks
William Jennings Bryan resigns in protest

7. Aftermath of the Lusitania
Sussex Pledge
Germany promises not to attack any more ships
National Defense Act
June 1916
Basically doubles size of army, spends $313 million to improve the navy

8. 1916 Presidential Election
Woodrow Wilson
“He kept us out of war” - Slogan
Supported U.S. neutrality officially, while building up the army & navy and loaning money to the Allied powers
Argued for a “peace without victory”
Central Question of the time:
Should the U.S. remain neutral?

9. Isolationism v. Globalization
William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State, argued for neutrality
No loans to powers that were fighting, U.S. should stay out of the war
Globalization
Theodore Roosevelt and others argued that the U.S. should intervene on the side of the Allies
Germany attacked the U.S. by attacking British ships

10. Road to War Submarine Attacks Zimmerman Telegram (1917)
In desperation, unrestricted submarine warfare began again on February 1, 1917
Germans hoped to defeat Allied before U.S. could impact the war
Zimmerman Telegram (1917)
German foreign secretary Zimmerman sent telegram to Mexico asking them join war in return for New Mexico, Texas and Arizona
Intercepted by British and leaked to American newspapers

11. Zimmerman Telegram

12. Declaration of War April 2, 1917
"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty… It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in, the balance.  But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free…"

13. U.S. in World War I Soldiers called “doughboys” Major battles:
2nd Battle of the Marne
St. Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne Offensive

14. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
Domestic Impact: How the war impacted Americans at home
Ways the war impacted America:
“Great Migration”
Espionage Act & Privacy
Eugene Debs & Socialism
Changing Workforce Demographics

15. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
“Great Migration” (1890’s-1920’s)
Mass movement of African Americans to northern cities
Why?
Escape negative aspects of Southern life
Economic opportunities
Black Population Trends
1890s
1960s
Southern
90.3%
10%
Rural
90% 5%
Northern
9.7%
Urban
95%

16. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
“Great Migration” (1890’s-1920’s)
African-Americans created separate communities within northern cities
Best example: Harlem in New York City
Helps lead to the Harlem Renaissance
Race relations deteriorate
Northern resistance (residential segregation)
Marcus Garvey: racial pride and self-help
Rise of the 2nd Ku Klux Klan

17. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
Eugene Debs and socialism
Eugene Debs ( )
Helped establish Socialist Party of America
Ran for President in 1904, 1908, 1912 and 1920
Served 5 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act
Socialism: system of government that argues the workers should control the government and that government should own industry, ex. Communism

18. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
Espionage Act and Privacy
Espionage Act of 1917
Made it illegal to interfere with military recruitment or operations, or to openly support America’s enemies
Most famous violator: Eugene V. Debs
Schenck v. United States (1919) – Constitutional, not a violation of 1st Amendment [freedom of speech]
Still in effect today
Some want Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, charged under the Espionage Act for his actions in releasing classified military documents from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
Debs was a pacifist. He, along with many other socialists, argued that the United States should not enter World War I

19. Communism and Socialism in the U.S.
Red Scare
Nationwide fear of communists
Why?
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia (1917)
Goal: Worldwide Communism [Comintern]
Anarchist bombings throughout U.S.
Rise of labor unions/workers rights advocates

20. Communism and Socialism in the U.S.
Red Scare
Palmer Raids ( )
Series of attacks on American communists
Began after series of bombings targeting important Americans
Led by A. Mitchell Palmer, U.S. Attorney General
Many arrested / deported
Most poor immigrants

21. Communism and Socialism in the U.S.
Red Scare
Sacco and Vanzetti
Two anarchist immigrants charged with murder in 1920
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Little evidence, but sentenced to death anyway
Executed August 23, 1927
Judge Webster Taylor, speaking about Vanzetti: “although he may not actually have committed the crime attributed to him, is nevertheless morally culpable [guilty], because he is an enemy of our existing institutions…The defendant’s ideals are cognate [associated] with crime.” [as quoted in The Year the World Went Mad, by Allen Churchill]

22. Communism and Socialism in the U.S.
Immigration Restriction
Immigration = problem
Solution? Quotas
First limits:
350,000 persons/yr., no more than 3% of current population
National Origins Act of 1924
Quota reduced to 2% and 150,000 total
Banned Asian immigration

23. Domestic Impact of U.S. during WW I
Changing workforce demographics
Great Migration = more African-American industrial workers
World War I = more women employed

24. Wilson’s Fourteen Points
Open Treaties
Freedom of the seas
Equality of trade
Reduction in armaments
Self-determination
Reestablishing Russia
Restoration of Belgium
Alsace-Lorraine to France
Adjustment of Italy’s boundaries
Breakup of Austria-Hungary
Freedom for Balkan states
Breakup of Ottoman Empire
Freedom for Poland
League of Nations
Wilson’s Fourteen Points
January 8, 1918
Speech to Congress made by President Woodrow Wilson
Set out U.S. war goals
Idealistic
War was moral and continual peace was the main goal

25. League of Nations
Extra-national organization founded after World War I
Purpose:
Eliminate future wars by settling disputes between nations by negotiation and arbitration
U.S. fails to join
Does not ratify Treaty of Versailles

26. Return to Isolationism
U.S. does not join League of Nations
Returns to isolationism